The new era of the UEFA Champions League is upon us and the reorganised draw will be the first sign of how different the competition will look next season.
With the competition expanded and reformatted for the 2024/25 season, UEFA has scrapped the old group stage model. The upcoming phase will now be called the “league stage”, with UEFA following the Swiss model to determine the pairings and participants in the knockout rounds.
Therefore, a new format also requires a new draw system. The teams will no longer be drawn into four team groups, but a table will be created for the league phase.
Sporting News provides you with all the important information about when the draw will take place, where you can follow the action and how it will work.
MORE: What is the Swiss model? How UEFA capitalised on competitions like chess to develop a new UCL format
When is the draw for the 2024 Champions League?
The draw for the new “league phase” of the UEFA Champions League will take place on Thursday, August 29 in Nyon, Switzerland, at the UEFA headquarters.
Further draws for the knockout rounds will take place in early 2025, as described below.
Play-offs for the knockout round: January 21, 2025
Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals: February 21, 2025
When is the draw for the 2024 Champions League?
The draw for the 2024/25 Champions League will take place on Thursday, August 29, at 6 p.m. local time in the Principality of Monaco.
Here’s how time is converted in some of the major time zones in the USA:
| Date | Drawing time | |
| Eastern Time | Thursday, August 29 | 12 o’clock |
| Central Time | Thursday, August 29 | 11am |
| Mountain time | Thursday, August 29 | 10 O `clock |
| Pacific Time | Thursday, August 29 | 9 o’clock |
How to watch the 2024 Champions League draw: TV channel, live stream
TV channels: —
Live stream: Paramount+, UEFA.tv
In the United States, you can watch the first draw of the new era exclusively on CBS Sports’ Paramount+. Paramount+ offers a one week free trial for new users.
Plus, for a limited time, new subscribers can currently enjoy Paramount+ starting at $2.50 per month for 12 months! Billed annually. Stream the NFL on CBS, Champions League soccer, and more. Redeem now!
The draw can also be streamed on UEFA.tv.
This is how the draw for the Champions League phase works in 2024
The old group phase has been abolished. Instead, a “league phase” is now organized to determine the schedule with eight games for each of the 36 participants.
As before, all teams will be distributed across four pots, determined by the UEFA club coefficient at the start of the season. The only exception is the reigning Champions League winners, who will be placed in pot one regardless of their ranking. This season, Real Madrid would have been placed in pot one anyway as defending champions, as they are one of the most successful and strongest clubs in the world, so this exception is no longer applicable.
Each team will then be drawn against two clubs from each other pot, including their own, with one playing at home and the other away. Teams cannot be drawn against other clubs from the same country.
To create the pairings, manually drawing balls from pots will no longer be an essential part of the procedure. This is because in the new format, it would take forever to draw all the required factors from pots.
Instead, the first team out of the pot is drawn, after which AI computer software is used to create the pairings and determine home and away places. While this reduces the time needed for the draw, it is likely to destroy the appearance of impartiality that a manual draw creates.
